By Julie Keys on 1/27/2008

Hello to all.  Due to my grandmother's death and the responsibilities that go with it, I will be out of school for the next week.  Students will be working on activities relating to the Circulatory System in class, with all work to be completed by the time I return on Monday, February 4.  Thank you for your understanding at this difficult time.

By Julie Keys on 1/23/2008

Hello again!  As many of you know, my grandmother took a turn for the worse this weekend.  As a result, most of my attention has been turned to dealing with whatever legal and medical issues have arisen.  I am still in the midst of looking over rough drafts of the newspaper article.  Once I have these returned (I am shooting for this Friday), students will be given a full week to make corrections and hand in the final copy.  Once again, I thank you for your understanding and support!

By Julie Keys on 1/18/2008

Hello again!  I'd like to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to all of my students and parents for their kindness and understanding over the past couple of weeks.  I have been blessed to have had my grandmother, one of my very best friends, in my life for as long as I have had.  As a result of our close relationship, my grandmother put me in charge of her affairs, so when she became as ill as she did, my presence became a requirement.  Unfortunately, this created a situation where I was unable to choose my substitute.  Please understand that any difficulties the students experienced during this time will be resolved, and in no way will be held against them!  This includes any work students were unable to complete in the time I was away.  However, due to the important nature of the information found in the Declaration of Indpendence Critical Thinking Packet, as well as the American Revolution packet, completion of these activities is ... Read More »

By Julie Keys on 1/6/2008

Hello again, and a happy and healthy New Year to all!  I truly hope eveyone had a wonderful holiday and a relaxing two weeks.  Now however, the time has come to return to school and the excitement of learning!

After a quick review of the causes, our theme class will be continuing our study of the American Revolution this week, focusing not just on the battles themselves, but also what affected those battles, as well as what life was like for the colonists of this time.  Before the break, students were assigned an event related to this American Revolution to begin researching.  This week's homework will center around this research, as students will use their research to create a newspaper article with accompanying illustrations.  After we have completed these articles, we will be putting together an American Revolution newspaper and publishing it on this site!  There will also be some worksheets completed, but these worksheets a ... Read More »

By Julie Keys on 12/16/2007

Happy week before Winter Break!  Before we begin our discussion of academics, let's handle the business side of things.  We are still looking for some parent volunteers for the Winter Party, which will occur in class on Friday, December 21, at 1:30 PM.  Anyone interested in generously donating their time to our endeavors, please contact Mrs. Jennifer Blecha, who is our lead parent for the activity, or me.  Also, in relation to our Winter Party, the Theme class wil be participating in our holiday Secret Elephant activity.  Students have drawn names of other students as their "Secret Elephant."  Students are asked to bring a small, mini-gift for each day of the week, Monday - Thursday (items such as cookies, candy bars, drinks, etc), and on Friday, each student should bring the main gift.  Please make sure that no more than $20 is spent throughout the week on all presents combined.  Please also be aware that this ... Read More »

By Julie Keys on 12/9/2007

    Greetings again!  With the holidays quickly approaching, it's time for our class' annual Winter Holiday party!  Mrs. Jennifer Blecha has graciously offered to be our lead parent volunteer for this.  We do need another four parents to generously volunteer their time, so if you are available, please contact Mrs. Blecha as quickly as possible.  The party will take place in the classroom on Friday, December 21, beginning at 1:30 PM.  If you are able to help us out, please contact me as soon as you can; at that point, I will give you Mrs. Blecha's contact information.

    OK, now that we've covered that, it's time to get down to the business of our Theme class.  Our students are still engaged in their Road to Revolution Learning Stations activities; upon completion of these activities, we will make a smooth transition into our studies about the actual American Revolution.& ... Read More »

By Julie Keys on 12/2/2007

This week actually brings us a quick update of the Theme class' happenings, as opposed to the novels that seem to be the norm!  Our Theme class continues to work on their Road to Revolution station activities.  These stations are cooperative learning, project-based stations that allow students to work in teams and yet still be held responsible as individuals for the quality of their learning.  All station activities are to be finished  and handed in by the beginning of class Friday.  Due to the nature of this unit, homework will not be assigned until this Friday.  Please check the website as that day approaches for more information.

Have a wonderful week!

By Julie Keys on 11/25/2007

I hope all of you had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  I'm sure the time off was beneficial to us all!  Now, however, it's time for the academic excitement ot begin again!  This week, our theme class will finally tackle the Road to Revolution unit.  Students will work in small groups to complete tasks related to the events leading up to the American Revolution in a learning stations approach.  Teams will be given seven days to complete all activities at each station.  Stations titles include Violence in Boston, Loyalist vs. Patriot, Acts of the English Parliament, the Revolutionaries, the Continental Congresses, Documents of Change, and Analyzing the Acts.  Teams will work together to create a portfolio of work relating to these topics.  These stations will go well into the next week of classes as well.   There will be no homework associated with Theme during this time, as all activities are expected to be comple ... Read More »

By Julie Keys on 11/18/2007

    Welcome to Thanksgiving week!  Before we get started, let me take the time to wish all of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!  As this is a very short week, our activities will be somewhat limited.  Due to the time and complexity of the presentations of the students' trimester projects, we were unable to begin our Road to Revolution Learning Stations Activities.  We will instead undertake this journey next week, after we return from the Thanksgiving break.  As for the two days of this week, we will continue our presentations of the students' projects.  Enjoy your break!

 

By Julie Keys on 11/12/2007

    We're back!!!  We arrived back from KSS safe and sound, and I'd wager to say that we all had an incredible time!  Let me start by congratulating all of the students for a job well done!  What a great group of kids these are!  They represented themselves and the Stargate community with respect and grace.  I am truly impressed at how well this class gets along and works together.  Each and every one of these students made the lives of the chaperones easy and fun.  Speaking of the chaperones, a humongous thank you to Mrs. Turner and Mr. Zonies!  All of their hard work helped to make this trip the wonderful trip it was, and their efforts were truly appreciated by the students and me!

    In other news from the past week, thank you to all of you who so generously donated to our Gala basket.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend - KSS did indeed wip ... Read More »